Americans United - Resourceshttp://au.org/tags/resources
enMy Birthday Wish For Thomas Jefferson: An End To The Religious Right’s Lies About Himhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/my-birthday-wish-for-thomas-jefferson-an-end-to-the-religious-right%E2%80%99s-lies
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Thomas Jefferson was not a fundamentalist Christian, nor did he believe that the United States was founded to be a &#039;Christian nation.&#039;</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Today is Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, and my modest gift to him is to debunk the latest David Barton nonsense about our third president.</p>
<p>Barton, a Religious Right historical revisionist who promotes discredited “Christian nation” propaganda, has lately taken aim at one of Jefferson’s most famous projects: The so-called “Jefferson Bible.” As usual, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI1JUIB6OlM">Barton’s version</a> has only a passing relationship with the truth.</p>
<p>Formally titled <em>The Life and Morals of Jesus Christ</em>, the Jefferson Bible is an intriguing document. Over several years, Jefferson did a cut-and-paste rewrite of the Gospels, removing the portions he did not agree with. In Jefferson’s retelling, there is no virgin birth, no miracles, no claims of Jesus’ divinity and no resurrection.</p>
<p>According to Barton, Jefferson didn’t remove this material because he disagreed with it. Rather, he was trying to produce a version of the Gospels that could be used to evangelize Native Americans.</p>
<p>What utter tripe.</p>
<p>We know why Jefferson undertook the project because he talked about it with several friends. On Oct. 13, 1813, Jefferson outlined his plans in a letter to John Adams.</p>
<p>“In extracting the pure principles which he [Jesus] taught,” Jefferson wrote, “we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to themselves….We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus.... There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill. The result is an octavo of forty-six pages, of pure and unsophisticated doctrines.”</p>
<p>Barton’s claim about Native Americans rests on exceedingly thin evidence: There is a cover page to an early version of the book that refers to the volume being useful for Indians. But it’s not in Jefferson’s handwriting, and it’s unclear who wrote it and when. Also, in 1895, long after Jefferson’s death, one of his descendents opined that the book was intended for Native Americans. She had no evidence for this and was speaking at a time when the “Christian nation” view of America was popular and Jefferson’s unorthodox theological opinions were considered somewhat scandalous.</p>
<p>Did Jefferson ever say the book was intended to evangelize Indians? Nope. He corresponded with friends about his project and never once mentioned using it to evangelize anyone, let alone Native Americans. In fact, Jefferson stated several times that the book was for his personal use.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it would have been impossible for the tome to be used for evangelism because Jefferson never intended for it to be published, and it wasn’t during his lifetime. The first edition didn’t appear until 1895 – 69 years after Jefferson’s death.</p>
<p>And, as a moment’s thought will demonstrate, a book portraying Jesus as merely a man with worthy ethics (as opposed to the supernatural son of God) isn’t likely to lure anyone into a conservative form of Christianity. If Jefferson sought to “Christianize” Indians, his idiosyncratic version of the Bible would be an odd tool for that task.</p>
<p>In fact, Jefferson didn’t seek to Christianize Native Americans (or anyone else). Like many people of his day, Jefferson harbored certain prejudices about America’s original inhabitants. He wanted to see them “civilized” – meaning they should live like the European settlers. But he didn’t advocate giving them his version of the Bible to achieve this. Rather, he suggested two other works: Daniel Defoe’s <em>Robinson Crusoe</em> and (the decidedly pre-Christian) Aesop’s Fables.</p>
<p>The question of Jefferson’s religion has fascinated scholars for years. There will always be room for debate, but a few things are clear: Jefferson was not a fundamentalist Christian, nor did he believe that the United States was founded to be a “Christian nation.”</p>
<p>Jefferson was an advocate of religious freedom for everyone – Christian and non-Christian – and he believed that the best way to protect that freedom was through a high and firm wall of separation between church and state.</p>
<p>If you really want to know what Jefferson thought about these issues, ignore Barton and go straight to the source: Jefferson’s own words. Americans United has compiled some of his best thoughts on religious liberty <a href="http://www.au.org/resources/history/old-docs/with-sovereign-reverence.pdf">here</a>. Information about his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists, which contains the “wall of separation” metaphor, is <a href="http://www.au.org/resources/history/old-docs/jeffersons-letter-to-the.pdf">here</a>.</p>
<p>Celebrate Jefferson’s birthday by reflecting on his wisdom about freedom of conscience.</p>
<p>P.S. Thanks to Chris Rodda, author of <a href="http://www.liarsforjesus.com/"><em>Liars for Jesus</em></a>, for research help.</p>
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</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/david-barton">David Barton</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jefferson-bible">Jefferson Bible</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span></div></div>Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:00:44 +0000Rob Boston2185 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/my-birthday-wish-for-thomas-jefferson-an-end-to-the-religious-right%E2%80%99s-lies#commentsBaptist Bulwark: Virginia ‘Messengers’ Reaffirm Church-State Separationhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/baptist-bulwark-virginia-%E2%80%98messengers%E2%80%99-reaffirm-church-state-separation
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Virginia Baptists have a special reason to be concerned about separation of church and state.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>When I read about some of things the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has done over the years – calling for boycotts of Disney parks and products, passing resolutions telling wives to be submissive to husbands, bashing gay people, etc. – I must remind myself that there are still plenty of good people who bear the Baptist name.</p>
<p>Some of them work with at the <a href="http://www.bjconline.org/">Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty</a> here in Washington. A host of others are across the Potomac River in Virginia.</p>
<p>Fundamentalists have seized control of the national SBC organizational structure and its affiliates in many states. But they’ve never managed to capture Virginia. Baptist moderates run the show there, and earlier this week, the Baptist General Association of Virginia met to take care of its business, including electing a new president.</p>
<p>Congregational representatives at the event – called “messengers” in Baptist parlance – also passed an <a href="http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/5861/53/">interesting resolution</a> condemning revisionist history and deploring recent attacks on separation of church and state.</p>
<p>Virginia Baptists have a special reason to be concerned about this. The state was the home of leaders like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Mason. Baptist preacher John Leland, a fiery church-state separation advocate, also lived there for several years. It’s the state that gave us the pioneering <a href="http://www.au.org/resources/history/old-docs/virginia-statute-for.pdf">Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom</a>, and as such it can rightly claim to be the cradle of religious liberty.</p>
<p>Right-thinking Baptists in the Old Dominion aren’t about to let anyone mess with that proud legacy.</p>
<p>Rob James, chair of the Association’s Religious Liberty Committee, said the resolution was in part a reaction to recent events in Texas, where Religious Right activists hostile to church-state separation rewrote state social studies standards to promote bogus “Christian nation” concepts.</p>
<p>“One of the things that frightened us was that the next 10 years of social studies textbooks would raise questions about the founding of this country and to what extent, if at all, the idea of separation of church and state is part of our national commitment,” James told Associated Baptist Press.</p>
<p>There was some criticism of the resolution. A few messengers raised common Religious Right objections and criticized church-state separation, but they failed to sway many. It was reported that the measure passed “by a wide margin on a show-of-hands vote.”</p>
<p>The resolution comes on the heels of a decision by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board to <a href="http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/5811/53/">publish a booklet </a>correcting “certain influential versions of American history [which] ... mistakenly minimize or deny the grounding in this nation’s history of the Baptist principles of religious liberty or its safeguard, the Baptist principle of church-state separation....”</p>
<p>Americans United counts on the help of people of many different faiths (as well as those with no faith) to defend church-state separation. Virginia Baptists have once again proven themselves to be a crucial element of that diverse coalition.</p>
<p>More power to their pens, voices, minds and spirits.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/baptist-general-association-virginia">Baptist General Association of Virginia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/baptist-joint-committee-religious-liberty">Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/church-state-milestones">Church-State Milestones</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rob-james">Rob James</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/southern-baptist-convention">Southern Baptist Convention</a></span></div></div>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:39:27 +0000Rob Boston2133 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/baptist-bulwark-virginia-%E2%80%98messengers%E2%80%99-reaffirm-church-state-separation#commentsExtreme Makeover: Religious Right And Its Political Allies Call For Redrafting Our Founding Documenthttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/extreme-makeover-religious-right-and-its-political-allies-call-for
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">There have always been those who treat the Constitution like a first draft. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Friday is Constitution Day. As national holidays go, it’s no Thanksgiving. Many Americans don’t even know about it; few will attend events to mark the day.</p>
<p>That’s a shame. The Constitution is our nation’s foundational document. Its Bill of Rights, ratified 10 years after the Constitution was approved, is a charter of liberties that has inspired people around the world for more than 200 years. The Constitution and Bill of Rights stand as bulwarks against tyranny; they should be celebrated. (You can read the <a href="//www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html ">Constitution</a> and the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html">Bill of Rights</a> at the National Archives’ Web site.)</p>
<p>There’s a particular genius behind our Constitution. It can be altered, but the process is not easy. That was done on purpose. The Founders did not want changes made to our governing charter on the basis of passing whims or hysteria.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there have always been those who treat the Constitution like a first draft. Some have even targeted the First Amendment. Over the years, amendments promoting official school prayer, extending tax aid to religious institutions, banning flag “desecration” and outlawing same-sex marriage have been proposed, and some have even faced votes in Congress. Religious Right groups have enthusiastically backed these misguided proposals.</p>
<p>In 1998, former U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.), working in concert with various Religious Right groups, introduced a mis-named <a href="http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/archives/1999/09/rep-istook-rein.html">“Religious Freedom Amendment”</a> that would have gutted the First Amendment’s religious liberty provision. Istook’s amendment would have fostered religious worship in public schools, allowed for tax funding of religious institutions and permitted display of religious symbols at the seat of government.</p>
<p>The House of Representatives voted on Istook’s amendment on June 4, 1998. Much to AU’s distress, this monstrosity actually garnered a simple majority – but thankfully it fell short of the two-thirds vote needed to pass a constitutional amendment.</p>
<p>But the Constitution bashers won’t give up. The most extreme among them seek a near-total rewrite – and aren’t afraid to put our liberties at risk.</p>
<p>Recently, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wrote <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/09/13/sen-john-cornyn-constitutional-convention-balanced-budget-obama-founders/">a column</a> for Fox News proposing a new Constitutional Convention. Cornyn says a new convention is necessary to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment. But he must know that once a convention is called, it can’t be limited to just one topic. Article V of the Constitution says that if two-thirds of the state legislatures call for a convention, one must be convened “for proposing amendments.” Note that the word is plural.</p>
<p>A runaway convention should easily go off the rails and begin considering any manner of dangerous ideas. An entire cavalcade of discredited amendments dealing with issues like school prayer, religious school vouchers, same-sex marriage, abortion and others could suddenly be given new life.</p>
<p>There are a lot of good people working in Congress today, but let’s face it, there are also an uncomfortably high number of men and women with extreme views, the kind of lawmakers who cater to the Religious Right. The last thing we want is people like this meddling with the Founders’ handiwork.</p>
<p>On Constitution Day, the best thing we can do is celebrate that document – not call for a rewrite.</p>
<p>P.S. James Madison is considered the “Father of the Constitution.” He was a brilliant thinker, a primary architect of our government and a strong advocate for church-state separation. Madison rarely gets his due. Read about his accomplishments <a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=23377">here</a>.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bill-rights">Bill of Rights</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/constitution">Constitution</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/constitution-day">Constitution Day</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ernest-istook">Ernest Istook</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-cornyn">John Cornyn</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:30:12 +0000Rob Boston2113 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/extreme-makeover-religious-right-and-its-political-allies-call-for#commentsPresidential Proclamations: The Chief Executives On Religious Libertyhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/presidential-proclamations-the-chief-executives-on-religious-liberty
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The chief executives speak on separation of church and state.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>It’s Presidents' Day. In honor of the holiday, I thought it would be interesting to pull together some quotes by our chief executives on church-state separation and religious freedom.</p>
<p>Most people know that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were great champions of church-state separation. But did you know that James K. Polk had some interesting things to say, as did U.S. Grant?</p>
<p>This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it provides some interesting food for thought. Enjoy!</p>
<p><em>George Washington: </em>“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.” (Letter to Touro Synagogue, Newport, R.I., August, 1790)</p>
<p><em>John Adams (commenting on blasphemy laws):</em> “I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination, certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws.” (Letter to Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 23, 1825)</p>
<p><em>Thomas Jefferson:</em> “[E]veryone must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U.S. and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.” (Letter to the Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808)</p>
<p><em>James Madison:</em> “There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it, would be a most flagrant usurpation. I can appeal to my uniform conduct on this subject, that I have warmly supported religious freedom.” (Journal excerpt, June 12, 1788)</p>
<p><em>Andrew Jackson (explaining why he declined to call for official days of prayer and fasting): </em>“I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.” (Letter to the Synod of the Reformed Church of North America, June 12, 1832)</p>
<p><em>James K. Polk:</em> “Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between Church and State.” (Diary entry, Oct. 14, 1846)</p>
<p><em>Millard Fillmore:</em> “I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered itself to be used for political objects I would meet it by political opposition. In my view church and state should be separate, not only in form, but fact. Religion and politics should not be mingled.” (Address during 1856 presidential election)</p>
<p><em>Ulysses S. Grant:</em> "Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state nor nation shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate." (Speech to veterans of the Army of Tennessee, Sept. 30, 1875.)</p>
<p><em>James A. Garfield: </em>“Whatever help the nation can justly afford should be generously given to aid the States in supporting common schools; but it would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenues of the nation, or of the States, to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of the Church and the State in everything relating to taxation should be absolute.” (Letter accepting presidential nomination, July 12, 1880)</p>
<p><em>Theodore Roosevelt</em>: “I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be nonsectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools.” (Speech, Oct. 12, 1915)</p>
<p><em>John F. Kennedy: </em>“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.” (Speech to Greater Houston Ministerial Association, Sept. 12, 1960)</p>
<p><em>Lyndon B. Johnson:</em> “I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office – and by personal conviction – I am sworn to uphold that tradition.” (Interview with <em>Baptist Standard</em>, October 1964)</p>
<p><em>Jimmy Carter:</em> “I believe in the separation of church and state and would not use my authority to violate this principle in any way.” (Letter to Jack V. Harwell, August 11, 1977)</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/andrew-jackson">Andrew Jackson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/church-state-milestones">Church-State Milestones</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/george-washington">George Washington</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-garfield">James Garfield</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-k-polk">James K. Polk</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/james-madison">James Madison</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jimmy-carter">Jimmy Carter</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-adams">John Adams</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-f-kennedy">John F. Kennedy</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lyndon-b-johnson">Lyndon B. Johnson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/millard-fillmore">Millard Fillmore</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/presidents-day">Presidents Day</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/theodore-roosevelt">Theodore Roosevelt</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ulysses-s-grant">Ulysses S. Grant</a></span></div></div>Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:31:18 +0000Rob Boston2010 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/presidential-proclamations-the-chief-executives-on-religious-liberty#commentsMending Wall: A Reflection On Good Barriers And Bad Oneshttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mending-wall-a-reflection-on-good-barriers-and-bad-ones
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">I think it&#039;s important to note that the church-state wall is not Jefferson&#039;s. It was instead the &#039;act of the whole American people.&#039;</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>In his poem "Mending Wall," poet Robert Frost <a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html">wrote</a>, "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out."</p>
<p>Today, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that's a point worth pondering. There are good walls and bad ones.</p>
<p>I was in Berlin once in the 1970s when the Berlin Wall was still in place. It was, to say the least, a very bad wall. Crossing that checkpoint, past heavily armed guards ready and willing to shoot transgressors, was a chilling experience even for a tourist who knew he could get back out.</p>
<p>The communist government of East Germany placed that ominous barricade there, of course, to prevent its own citizens from fleeing to the West. Many desperate Germans were killed trying to cross over, under or around it to freedom.</p>
<p>The East German government was "walling in" their own people and "walling out" the fundamental civil rights we often take for granted – freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, etc.</p>
<p>Some misguided Religious Right activists try to compare the Berlin Wall to the wall of separation between church and state, that metaphorical barrier enshrined in the Constitution and popularized by Thomas Jefferson. A few years ago, Family Research Council President touted President Ronald Reagan's role in the fall of the Berlin Wall and <a href="http://blog.au.org/2004/11/12/frc160to_jeffer/">railed against</a> America's church-state bulwark.</p>
<p>"We must all work to tear down this perilous wall," blustered Perkins, "and allow freedom to truly ring."</p>
<p>Jefferson and other Founders would be appalled at this breath-taking misunderstanding of history.</p>
<p>In his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, our third president <a href="http://www.au.org/resources/history/old-docs/jeffersons-letter-to-the.pdf">wrote</a>, "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."</p>
<p>I think it's important to note that the church-state wall is not Jefferson's. It was instead the "act of the whole American people." The American people, through our First Amendment's religious liberty provisions, have "walled in" freedom of conscience and "walled out" theocracy.</p>
<p>Today, as we remember the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the "whole American people" must recommit ourselves to the care and upkeep of the church-state wall. Our freedom demands it.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/berlin-wall">Berlin Wall</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/church-state-milestones">Church-State Milestones</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/church-state-wall">church-state wall</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/FRC">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/letter-danbury-baptists">Letter to the Danbury Baptists</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/thomas-jefferson">thomas jefferson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span></div></div>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:59:01 +0000Joseph L. Conn1593 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mending-wall-a-reflection-on-good-barriers-and-bad-ones#commentsMemorial Day 2009http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/memorial-day-2009
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has debunked some common attacks on church-state separation.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Wall of Separation is taking the day off. If you're itching for something new to read about separation of church and state, I recommend <a href="http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_docman&amp;task=cat_view&amp;gid=59&amp;Itemid=76">this page</a> from our friends at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.</p>
<p>This document is a lecture delivered by BJC Executive Director the Rev. J. Brent Walker in September of 2005. It was just recently added to the BJC's Web site. In the lecture, Brent responds to some of the common attacks on church-state separation. He does a masterful job debunking them. I enjoyed it, and I think you will too.</p>
<p>Go <a href="http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_docman&amp;task=cat_view&amp;gid=59&amp;Itemid=76">here </a>and click on the document titled "Answering the Top 10 lies about church and state."</p>
<p>We'll be back tomorrow. Enjoy the holiday!</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/baptist-joint-committee-religious-liberty">Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religious-freedom">religious freedom</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Mon, 25 May 2009 14:10:54 +0000Rob Boston1984 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/memorial-day-2009#commentsForgotten Founder?: Happy (Belated) Birthday, James Madison!http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/forgotten-founder-happy-belated-birthday-james-madison
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">James Madison believed that hundreds of years of established churches had crushed liberty and felt society could do well without them.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It has been surprisingly busy on the church-state front this week with a new flare-up in the South Carolina license plate case and the stories about President Barack Obama's religious advisors.</p>
<p>But I didn't want the week to go by without wishing James Madison a happy birthday – admittedly belated. Madison was born on March 16, 1751. Most Americans don't know that, which is a shame.</p>
<p>Madison is often called the "Father of the Constitution," and indeed his influence on that document and the subsequent Bill of Rights is considerable. You would think that achievement would have earned Madison a place of honor in American history. That hasn't happened. In fact, there is no prominent public monument to Madison in Washington, D.C. That has always bothered me.</p>
<p>It bothers Steve Waldman as well. Waldman, editor of the popular religion Web site Beliefnet.com, penned an article for <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> on Madison's birthday, reminding us that we have yet to give our fourth president his due.</p>
<p>Waldman <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123714297334033741.html">points out</a> the key role Madison played in securing religious liberty.</p>
<p>"James Madison is more responsible than any other single American for one of the nation's greatest characteristics – religious freedom," Waldman writes. "At a time when we're fighting over faith-based initiatives and the proper role of religion in politics, it's worth appreciating that America's experiment with religious liberty has largely succeeded, thanks largely to James Madison."</p>
<p>I agree with that, although I might quibble with some of Waldman's other conclusions. He asserts that Madison's main reason for promoting the separation of church and state was to "help religion." I'm not so sure about that. I think Madison simply believed that hundreds of years of established churches had crushed liberty and felt society could do well without them.</p>
<p>This view shines through in Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," one the greatest attacks on government support for religion ever written.</p>
<p>Consider this passage: "[E]xperience witnesseth that eccelsiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of Religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Madison's genius as an architect of government tends to be overlooked. His presidency was plagued by increasing tensions with Great Britain, culminating in the War of 1812. The new nation suffered the humiliation of seeing portions of its capital (including the White House) burned by the British. If Americans remember anything at all about Madison, it's that.</p>
<p>That's a shame, because Madison gave us so much. See <a href="http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/Madison.pdf?docID=141">here</a> for more great Madison quotes on religious freedom and church-state separation.</p>
<p>And by the way, if there are any Religious Right trolls reading this, don't even bother to bring up that phony quote about Madison lauding the Ten Commandments as the foundation of the U.S. government. Even the notorious Religious Right historical revisionist David Barton admits that it's <a href="http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&amp;page=NewsArticle&amp;id=6076">bogus</a>.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/history-and-origins-church-state-separation">History and Origins of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:28:54 +0000Rob Boston1963 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/forgotten-founder-happy-belated-birthday-james-madison#commentsGood Gifts: Holiday Ideas For The Church-State Separationist On Your Listhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/good-gifts-holiday-ideas-for-the-church-state-separationist-on-your-list
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Here are some items related to religious liberty and church-state relations that you might like to give (or receive) as gifts.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The holidays are coming up fast, and it's time to think about the special people on your list (or what you might like to put on your own).</p>
<p>With that thought in mind, here are some items related to religious liberty and church-state that you might like to give (or receive) as gifts.</p>
<p>Looking for a good book that debunks Religious Right calumny about church-state separation? Try <em>Piety &amp; Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom</em> by AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn. Barry writes as a Christian minister, but the book is full of information and comment that any fan of church-state separation will find useful. The paperback edition features a new Afterword.</p>
<p>Other fine tomes along these lines include <em>The Godless Constitution</em> by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, <em>Under God </em>by Garry Wills, <em>The Court and the Cross</em> by Frederick S. Lane and <em>The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America</em> by Frank Lambert. (Not to toot my own horn too much, but <em>Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church &amp; State</em> is still in print as well.)</p>
<p>Want to be inspired by the writings of a key founder? Check out <em>James Madison on Religious Liberty</em> by Robert S. Alley. To learn more about the unique religious views of another founder, try Thomas Jefferson's <em>The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth</em> (also known as the "Jefferson Bible.") This book, along with Brooke Allen's <em>Moral Minority</em>, handily debunks Religious Right claims that our founders were fundamentalist Christians and "Christian nation" advocates who opposed separation of church and state.</p>
<p>Some books focus on specific church-state topics. Lauri Lebo's <em>The Devil in Dover</em> is an insider's look at the Pennsylvania "intelligent design" trial, which was litigated in part by Americans United. Stephen D. Solomon's <em>Ellery's Protest: How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle Over School Prayer</em> is a detailed account of the famous 1963 Supreme Court decision that struck down state-sponsored school prayer.</p>
<p>Your friends might also enjoy a <a href="http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=resources_FFF_DVD">special DVD</a> Americans United makes available: "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Separation of Church and State... But Were Afraid to Ask!" The show, a joint project of Americans United and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, was taped last spring and includes musical appearances by the Bacon Brothers (actor Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael), Catie Curtis and satirist Roy Zimmerman.</p>
<p>Other celebrity guests include Peter Coyote, Michael J. Fox, Jack Klugman, James Whitmore, Wendie Malick, Dan Lauria, Catherine Dent and comedian Marc Maron. Copies are available through the AU Web site. (A companion book titled First Freedom First is also available.)</p>
<p>No matter what holiday you're celebrating – Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Human Light (or even Festivus) – we wish you a happy one.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/inside-au">Inside AU</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:05:33 +0000Rob Boston1924 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/good-gifts-holiday-ideas-for-the-church-state-separationist-on-your-list#commentsKen Burns' 'Gospel Of Americanism': Make The Church-State Wall Bigger And Widerhttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/ken-burns-gospel-of-americanism-make-the-church-state-wall-bigger-and-wider
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/1462402271/"></a>Many people view filmmaker Ken Burns as the poet laureate of American life. In documentaries such as <em>The War</em>, <em>Baseball</em>, <em>Jazz</em> and <em>The Civil War</em>, he has woven together words, music and pictures into incredibly moving accounts of the people and events that have framed our national life.<br />
In an interview in the July 15 <em>Christian Century</em>, Burns talks a bit about his work, his views on religion and his take on the role of faith in public life. Born an Episcopalian, Burns says his spirituality has its roots in Christianity, but today he finds himself in the tradition of the founders – "what Thomas Jefferson would call a deist, I guess."</p>
<p>Asked if he thinks the Christian faith in the American experience is a possible film subject, Burns replies, "Absolutely. I think I am leery about pursuing it in a direct way – only because it then becomes appropriated by those who wish to use religion as a bludgeon, as a tool, as a political wedge, and that is not my purpose of religion or what I'm about.</p>
<p>"My mission – and I'm happy to say that there is a huge evangelical dimension to what I'm doing – is preaching the gospel of Americanism," he continues, "but one that is mindful of the fact that it is not separated from questions of the spirit and the soul's survival."</p>
<p>Then Burns gets makes a point a lot of us will find compelling.</p>
<p>"I think it's also important to say," he asserts, "that I believe absolutely in the separation of church and state. I would make the [church-state] wall even bigger and wider. The genius of America, again, is being able to worship God on our own. When religion becomes a force in government, it has lost its raison d'etre."</p>
<p>On this Fourth of July, 2008, I offer Brother Burns a hearty "Amen!" I expect a lot of you will want to do the same.</p>
<p>Happy Independence Day!</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ken-burns">Ken Burns</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:00:28 +0000Joseph L. Conn1522 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/ken-burns-gospel-of-americanism-make-the-church-state-wall-bigger-and-wider#commentsBetraying Jefferson: UVA Award To Scalia Undercuts Third President's Principleshttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/betraying-jefferson-uva-award-to-scalia-undercuts-third-presidents
<a href="/about/people/smith">Ian Smith</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p class="MsoNormal">Thomas Jefferson's 265th birthday is this Sunday. While contemplating an article to honor him and his commitment to religious liberty, I came across a disturbing <a href="http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-04-10-0267.html" title=":http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-04-10-0267.html">Associated Press</a> report.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Apparently U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was at Mr. Jefferson's University yesterday to receive the <a href="http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2008_spr/scalia.htm">Thomas Jefferson Medal in Law.</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The award recognizes those who "embrace endeavors that Jefferson...excelled in and held in high regard." I can think of precious few reasons why Justice Scalia deserves such an honor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Scalia's attitude towards religious liberty is <em>not </em>one of them. Indeed, I can't think of a sitting jurist (save Justice Clarence Thomas) who has more contempt for the separation of church and state.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> "Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers never intended to eliminate religion from government," Scalia told his audience. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Really? The Thomas Jefferson I know <a href="http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/jefferson_quotes.pdf?docID=761">wrote often</a> about the need to separate religion from government. He even opposed civic religious practices we consider common place today.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As president, Jefferson refused to issue proclamations calling for days of prayer. Even the mere suggestion by the president that people engage in religious activity, he wrote in 1808, would "indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jefferson understood that government actions carry with them authority and pressure to conform, and he feared dissenters would suffer public disdain on par with any punishment government could impose. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don't think Jefferson would accept Scalia's observation in <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZD.html"> <em>McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky</em></a>, that it is "entirely clear from our Nation's historical practices that the Establishment Clause permits this disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists." </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Attempts to add "Jesus Christ" to Jefferson's <a href="http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/va_statute_for_religious_freedom.pdf?docID=1321">Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom</a> (so it read: religious coercion is "a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion") were overwhelmingly rejected. This was evidence, Jefferson later wrote, that the legislature "meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Given Jefferson's commitment to religious liberty, I dare say he would object to an award bearing his name going to a jurist who has tried to demolish the wall of separation between church and state. </p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/resources">Resources</a></span></div></div>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:55:45 +0000Ian Smith1443 at http://au.orghttp://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/betraying-jefferson-uva-award-to-scalia-undercuts-third-presidents#comments